Motor Learning
Motor Learning
Motor learning explains how practice and experience produce relatively permanent changes in movement capability. Candidates must distinguish skill classification (gross versus fine, open versus closed, discrete versus serial versus continuous, self-paced versus externally paced) from the stages of learning described by Fitts and Posner: cognitive (talking through the skill, many errors), associative (refining technique, fewer errors), and autonomous (automatic, attention freed for tactics). Understand feedback: intrinsic versus augmented, knowledge of results (outcome) versus knowledge of performance (technique), and how feedback frequency, delay and precision shape retention. Know practice design: massed versus distributed, blocked versus random, whole versus part, constant versus variable, and the principle of specificity and transfer (positive, negative, zero).
Common traps: confusing performance during practice with genuine learning measured by retention and transfer; assuming more feedback is always better (it can create dependency); calling growth or fatigue 'learning'; and mixing up knowledge of results with knowledge of performance. Another trap is treating random practice as always superior - it depresses practice performance but usually improves retention, which is the point.
Worked example
A basketball coach has players shoot 50 free throws in one block, then 50 in random order with jump shots and passes. The blocked group looks better in practice but the random group scores higher in a delayed test two weeks later. The rule of thumb: judge learning by delayed retention and transfer, not by immediate practice performance. Random practice creates contextual interference, forcing retrieval and problem-solving that strengthens memory.
Rule of thumb
If a question asks what best demonstrates learning, choose a delayed retention or transfer test, not the practice session itself.